On this day, Ælfheah, the archbishop of Canterbury, more commonly known today as Alphege, was savagely murdered by Danish Vikings. On 8th September 1011, the Danes laid siege to Canterbury and, helped by the treachery of Ælfmaer, sacked it three weeks later. They then took Ælfheah prisoner and plundered and burned the cathedral. Ælfheah was held captive for seven months until the Danes grew tired of his refusal to allow a ransom to be paid for his release. On 19th April, in a drunken frenzy, the archbishop was pelted with bones and the heads of cattle until he received a fatal blow on the head with the butt of an axe, possibly delivered as an act of kindness by a Christian convert.
